In an historic ceremony that took place Saturday through an online livestream, University of Colorado Boulder graduates took their first steps into a future made increasingly unpredictable by the new coronavirus and its economic toll.

More than 9,000 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees were celebrated during the event, which saw over 8,000 viewers tune in. Throughout, speakers touched upon the gravity of the situation students find themselves in as the first class to enter a world altered by COVID-19.

In his address, CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano drew a comparison between the young people making sacrifices now, to those of the Greatest Generation who rallied together to see the United States through World War II.

“They went from the workplace, the farm and from cap and gown, directly into uniform,” said DiStefano. “They sacrificed greatly at home and abroad during World War II. They developed common values of personal responsibility and community service. And then, they rebuilt the country for succeeding generations.

“From great challenge, they forged great opportunity — just as you will.”

That sentiment — that this period of extended crisis will bring about innovation, sharpening those of this generation — is shared by Leeds School of Business graduate Rebecca Litton.

“It’s overwhelming in a sense, but I think… my class is in such a unique place,” said Litton. “We will really kind of be the unique ones, going into companies and being… the leaders of the future, because we’re having to deal with so much uncertainty.”

And, though she does feel a lack of closure without an in-person commencement to cap off her academic stay at CU Boulder, she recognizes the historic nature of her graduation.

“I think at the end of the day it is kind of special in a way, because we are the first class in CU history that’s graduated online,” said Litton, who came back from her home in Chicago, where she’s been spending her quarantine, to be in Boulder for the event.

In addition to remarks from CU President Mark Kennedy, who urged graduates to “adapt,” CU Boulder alumnus and creator of podcasts such as Hardcore History Dan Carlin addressed viewers. He touched on the unpredictability of life, and how small decisions — like one he made to send an audition tape to a news director early in career — can send people down wildly different paths in life.

“The way this current pandemic has completely changed everything we were doing before it happened is a wonderful life lesson on how quickly reality can turn on a dime,” said Carlin. “This could be one of those dots on your life’s trajectory someday.”

During his address, DiStefano also noted the class of 2020’s connection with graduates that came just over a century before, speaking on the sacrifice that students during 1918’s Spanish Flu pandemic had to make.

“Just as the class of 1918 did, the class of 2020 will be written into history,” he said. “Just as the class of 1918 was, you’re graduating into a new world, a reimagined world.”

John Marinelli is the general assignment reporter at the Longmont Times-Call. A graduate of the University of Colorado's College of Media, Communication and Information, he has worked both along the Front Range and on the border in Yuma, Arizona. He can be reached at 303-473-1106.